Extraordinary lengths bike thieves go to.......

to steal my W reg 50cc Gilera Runner moped. It's worth about £400.

I kept the bike at my grandads because there was nowhere secure to keep it
where I live. Last week grandad was on holiday and I had to go without
access to my ped for the week. He didn't want me bringing mates round when
he wasn't there. I put the ped in the garage and chained the front wheel to
a fixed steel work bench. The garage itself was locked with a combination
lock to the side and a ground bolted padlock similar to the T-Bar. When he
went away he made sure all garden gates were locked as well.

When he came home Friday afternoon the back gate was open. Then he found the
garage had been forced open and my ped had gone. Nothing else.

From what we can work out, they have climbed over the garden wall from the
road without being seen. One of them has known the combination on the side
lock because it was found on the ground undamaged. Then they have used
probably a crowbar to bend the ground lock away from the garage and have
also buckled the garage door inwards so they create room to force it over
the lock. Then they got to my ped. They couldn't get the chain off,
although there is evidence they tried to smash the lock with hammers.
Instead they took the front wheel off and have stolen the ped without it's
front wheel. They then took the one-wheeled ped out through the back garden
gate, after bending that lock off, across a park about 200 yards and into a
nearby council estate. I would guess they had a van waiting.

So if anyone spots a one-wheeled Gilera Runner either in the Bromley borough
or Mottingham areas it's mine. The wheel still on it is painted light blue.
The body panels were red & black but they have most probably been popped
off.

They came specifically for the moped. They left power tools and electric
lawnmower that they could have just walked away with.

 

Because they wanted yours for the parts needed to fix a blown up or
crashed one.

Next?

 

You are most probably right. But there are plenty of mopeds that would have
been much easier to steal. Like one parked in the street.

 

When are you punting out the bits left over on Ebay?

 

Curses, rumbled.

Right now, I am wtching to see if my Craven topbox, 1970s vintage, will
make three figures.

A few minutes to go and it's on £81....

 

£83.....

 

Craven kit was quality stuff, and the designs were basically unchanged
for about 25 years. They used to make those slim white panniers fastened
to generations of old Plod bikes: Triumphs, Nortons, old Boxers - you
know.

So if you have any old classic from the early 1960s (maybe even earlier)
right through to the late 1970s, it'll look 'correct'. It'll be a period
accessory for anything from some old Brit single or twin, through to
SOHC Honda fours.

If you've got a ShiteOldBonnie or ShiteOldCB750 that you've restored,
and you want a luggage box, you don't want something made by Givi or the
Chinese and injection moulded. And most old Craven kit has long been
binned. So it's supply & demand.

That said, I reckoned it might make £40-50, and I'm utterly gobsmacked
at the final figure. The winning bidder lives in Norway....

 

They buy a *lot* of old bikes from Britain, because the tax on bikes in
Norway is horrendous, but bikes dating from about 1972 or earlier are
exempt (remember they're not in the EU).

A mate sold his 1972 Commando to a Norwegian, who sent him the money and
simply asked that he get it to Tilbury where some shipping agent would
take care of everything else. And so it proved.

My guess is this Norwegian has got some old BritShit.

 

I bet it doesn't drip oil so fast though.

 

This

How many of them knew he was away?

And this, would be making me mighty suspicious and wondering who knew
what, who they told and where my bike is.

Young scrotes just starting out without access to somewhere to flog
those on. Yet.

 

Many combination locks can be opened quickly without the number.
I wonder what sort this one was.

 

I have a white one and a black one, currently attached to Superdreams,
with keys.

Little did I know about my secret hoard of treasure .. !

P.

 

They just lock them up for half the year. Gives them plenty of time to
rebuild them, y'see.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"It's a moron working with power tools.
How much more suspenseful can you get?"
- House

 

Worth more than the bikes ;-)

 

Like that's difficult?
--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com)
\`\ | /`/
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

It was only a small lock. The main security was the solid metal bar lock
bolted into the ground. I thought that was unmovable but apparently the only
thing that is unmoveable is a T-Bar.